Students Zadkine Business and fashion visiting Denim city

Our school, Zadkine in Rotterdam, gave us a great opportunity to expand our knowledge about the denim industry. We, as Business and Fashion students, have had time to prepare our visit to the house of denim foundation based at Denim City.

I think the school has made a good decision by planning multiple visits to Denim City, divided over the course of our 3-year education. It is a great completion to the courses we follow today, as it provides us with a visual.

Denim City, a very special location in Amsterdam, is the European centre of denim. The location, founded by The House of Denim Foundation, is dedicated to making the denim production more sustainable. They experiment with ways of making the process as sustainable as possible. Due to the natural production of the cotton and the dyeing which is necessary, the process cannot be sustainable in its entirety, but the mission is to reduce the usage from 7,000 litres to 300 litres a pair of jeans. To realise that, House of Denim also gives brands and schools the opportunity to be educated about the issues the denim industry faces.

For these purposes, House of Denim has their own ‘mini factory’ to create their own jeans. They also have a shop and multiple ateliers for other brands to work and show their creations.

For students, the size of House of Denim and the information provided there is quite overwhelming. The reality is not concealed, in an effort to teach us, as the next generation, to find more sustainable solutions and not damage the earth more.

The day started with a tour. They explained every step of the production process and what they do to make the process more sustainable. They also showed us fabrics, jeans and brands they work with. Explanation about the mission and purpose of the foundation Denim City is very well explained in an attempt to make our generation more aware of the current issues in the fashion industry.

In addition to that, they also give us the opportunity to work with their equipment and create our own product. A laptop cover to be exact: made of denim. Our master tailor, Jos, assisted us in every way to create our own cover. More students enrolled in a special one-year school, Jean School International Course also assisted us. We were shown the peculiarities of the centre of denim.

Overall the experience is very interesting and intriguing. It is important that our generation learns more about production history in the Fashion industry. Therefore, luckily House of Denim at the Denim City location, has given us the chance to see alternative ways and solutions.

Interested in studying at Zadkine? Visit the Open Days on November 3 and 4.